Quilting Studio
 

I have an opportunity to design and furnish a brand new quilting studio. It will be in a basement with no windows. I need suggestions on what kind of lighting to install. Also what kind of flooring would you recommend. Any other "must haves" would be greatly appreciated. This is a once in a life time chance for me and I want to do it right!

What a great question.

Flooring: something easy to clean, where you can see and easily retrieve dropped objects. Definitely not carpet. I prefer wood, but tile or linoleum work. Concrete floors are just too hard to stand on a lot.

Lots of electrical outlets. Maybe even a couple on the ceilling, especially if you have a long arm or are able to have an ore industrial sized steam iron.

Lots of compact storage areas.

I prefer a cutting island, where I can go around to cut without moving the fabric. The a larger area for laying out the quilts.

I'll let others add about lighting.

I would definitely have as much light as possible. The LED lights are super bright and don't give off heat. I have ceramic tile with foam mats in front of each work station in my sewing room. I learned to keep a foam mat near my iron too, a hard floor will kill an iron. LOL
I love these floor lights. I have one over each work station with a 100 watt equivalent LED bulb. [h=1]Style Selections Task Lamps 69.49-in Black Indoor Floor Lamp with Metal Shade[/h]

You want the floor to be easily cleaned. I certainly would do some research of what others have done. If you have an IKEA nearby, they have lots of stuff for storage at reasonable prices. Have fun.

This is a wonderful adventure I am also in the midst of enjoying. I put in canned lights, LED because they will be efficient. Daylight bulbs are the greatest invention. You don't want 'soft' light. Some even give off a blue glow. This can change the value of your fabric. Depending on the size of your room, put lights on different switches (I have two) Mostly I stay on one end of the room. But when I use my Sweet 16 I turn on the extra lights at that end of the room and it makes all the difference in the world.

Flooring: We put in vinyl planking. The man at Mendards said it was something new. My husband installed it in one evening. My room is about 15 x 17. I love the ease of rolling my chairs over it and the ease of cleaning it. Swiffer once or twice a day depending on use. I did get all new chair rollers too because my previous ones had been rolled over my broken basement concrete and I didn't want any small chunks of cement gouging my new floor! Pins are easily seen too.

I am using the storage I already had except I purchased ready made cabinetry and put some wall cabinets up--as many as I had space for. We also put base cabinets in the center (6--3 drawers and 3 shelved ones) back to back. These are topped with a 4 x 8 sheet of melamine. Best decision EVER! I have pinned queen size quilts by myself using Cindy Needham's technique.

Many electric plugs. Count your irons and sewing machines and double for your needs. Remember if you have friends over to sew you will need more plugs than if you are in there alone. I even have two 'wall' plugs in the ceiling over my table so I can plug an iron in at either end of my table. I usually use an 18 x 24 ironing pad on top of my cutting table. I made it myself. The table holds a quilt better than a regular ironing board. I also have an ironing board for doing the longer stuff.

After hunting season(January!) my husband has promised to turn his attention back to finishing my space. We will put under cabinet lighting, as I have a long table (just like you see in the sewing machine store) along the wall with 4 machines on it. I will also have my peg board back. I can't wait to use my finished room. In the interim, I am enjoying the heck out of my sewing room. I love, love, love being in there!

Judy

Jecreed, take a look at the Smartcore flooring from Lowes. 100% unaffected by moisture so it makes a lot of sense in a basement. Feels great underfoot, we put some in a basement bathroom and will probably do the entire basement in the same flooring as we love it.

When wiring the room, make sure as well as lots of outlets, they are on different circuits. Put some of the outlets at counter height. No point in having to crawl under counters to push in a plug. I have power bars mounted on the wall behind my machines.

No windows, that is tough. I would put in a variety of types of lighting and bulbs. I know people have their favourite bulbs, but you need what will work best for you. Overall room lighting, task lighting, lighting over your iron, cutting table and design wall. I prefer to have lots of light around my sewing machines, above, in front and from the left.

I currently have concrete floors. They are hard and cold. My dream sewing room would have heated wooden floors.

When designing a space I like to draw the dimensions on graph paper. Mark all windows, doors, closets etc. Then I make little to scale cut outs of each piece of furniture, or feature I want. This helps me to plan the layout and see where plugs and lighting will be needed. I take a photo of each layout, until I decide which one to use. I do keep the plan and pieces in an envelope until need next time.

As Tothill said: "When wiring the room, make sure as well as lots of outlets, they are on different circuits." I would go with a hard surface floor vs. carpet. If you can have some of your furniture on lockable casters, I would go with that so you can rearrange if needed. There is a great sub-forum under Pictures called "Mission Organization" I would scan thru the titles and take a look at the posts that sound pertinent.
http://www.quiltingboard.com/sitemap/f-23.html

You will have a devil of a time convincing an electrician that yes you do want that many outlets in one room. I fired two electricians before finding one that didn't tell me what I needed. He installed a bigger breaker and put as many outlets and lights as I wanted.

My DH put all my plug ins at counter height. Very handy, every thing I use , I use at counter height. No carpet, I also have total of 30 foot 29 inch wide counter with drawers under counters and adjustable shelving above. Lg cutting table in center of room. DH also built me a set of 7 1/2 ft tall by 16 foot long cabinets, 23 inches deep, perfect for storing ruler folded fabric. Top of doors are pegboard, more storage. This spread between two rooms. Only thing I old change-wish I had better lighting, and I would like it all in one room